“Sacrifice”

Apparently President Bush is going to couch his escalation in Iraq as an appeal to “sacrifice.” Olbermann has already ridiculed the notion, but the best retort does not come from an American.

Bush’s rhetoric recalls another incompetent war leader whom he greatly resembles: Neville Chamberlain. Like Chamberlain, Bush comes from a prominent political family and has done nothing in real life to merit his position. Like Chamberlain, Bush regularly puts party before country, and he sees his party as the only legitimate governing force. And like Chamberlain, Bush deserves the response given to him in The Norway Debate by former Prime Minister David Lloyd George, the country’s leader during the First World War, who knew a thing or two about politics during wartime:

It is not a question of who are the Prime Minister’s friends. It is a far bigger issue. …He [Chamberlain] has appealed for sacrifice. The nation is prepared for every sacrifice so long as it has leadership. The Prime Minister must remember that he has met this foe of ours in peace and in war and he always has been worsted. I say solemnly that the Prime Minister should give an example of sacrifice because there is nothing which can contribute more to victory in this war than that he should sacrifice the seals of office.

If Bush wants to call for sacrifice, he might want to start by looking in the mirror.